Why Youth Leave the Church

Mike Erre, in his most recent book Death by Church, notes that young adults are leaving the church in “record numbers:”

“We should not be surprised, then, that the world these days objects more to Christians than to Christ. The hypocrisy of the Church is what keeps most away from Jesus…according to one survey, the three most common perceptions of present-day Christianity are ‘antihomosexual (an image held by 91 percent of young outsiders), judgmental (87 percent), and hypocritical (85 percent).’ The authors rightly conclude, ‘Modern Christianity no longer seems Christian.” [The kids in this study] had been to church and knew Christians and Christianity.”

He goes on to admit that this doesn’t mean we should skip the hard parts of the gospel message or tone things down, but that youngsters are, “simply objecting to what they see.”

He concludes: “Because of this, young adults are abandoning the church in record numbers.”

I can agree with what some of Erre says. No doubt, we in the church need to clean up our act, and our negligence of holiness has driven youth away. However, his picture is incomplete. He misses the fact that perhaps the largest factor is that we are not engaging the minds of the youth in our church.
How many youth groups are entertainment and social-group focused? How many youth groups shy away from giving the kids meat, preferring instead to make things “fun”?

I’m all for fun. The more, the better, in a sense. But we clearly are not preparing our young ones for college. They are getting picked off in record numbers, as Brett Kunkle demonstrates in this post.

Brett is a guy that interacts with youth for a living. Not only does he have the academic research to back up his claims, but he has direct experience…a lot of direct experience.

I brought him to speak to the Christian group at the school in which I teach. After he spoke, I spent some time picking his brain. One question I asked him was, “What is the main thing you’d teach as a youth pastor to prepare your kids for life after high school?”

His answer astounded me: “Rich, I’d teach them theology and apologetics.” It was that simple for him. Of course, if he talked on, he’d probably lay out some other things as well, and maybe some of his solutions would be more along the lines of Erre’s concern (another thing he puts at the forefront is getting students “in the game,” actively sharing their faith. He leads youth missions trips to Cal Berkely and Utah that do just that). However, it is significant that theology and apologetics were the first things on Brett’s mind.

Think this is just Balderdash? Read the book by Christian Smith that I link to above. In that book you will find that the #1 reason youth gave for leaving the church was “it just didn’t make sense anymore.” Most of the reasons gave were variations on that theme. Yes, hypocrisy by those in the church is *one* major thing that contributes to this confusion; but we’re kidding ourselves if we think that no training in doctrine and apologetics has little or nothing to do with it.

I can speak from experience. As a brand new Christian my first year of college, I can testify that were it not for books from the likes William Lane Craig and J.P. Moreland, and were it not for the astutely-trained men I knew from Intervarsity, Campus Crusade, and Athletes in Action, I would have given up the faith almost immediately after I picked it up.

Without Brett’s solution, we are leaving our youth naked and defenseless. No shield, no armor, no weapon, not even a slingshot…and the bullets are whizzin’ by fast.

Consider supporting Brett today. His is a vitally important ministry to both the church and the world.

Here are some related posts:

How Should we Interact with Youth?

The Ethics of America’s Youth

“Distracted to Death” Series (links to previous parts in series included)

Simon: Hot. God: Not

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